A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that Puneeth Kerehalli has been arrested along with C.R. Madhu and Rubel Mondal in a prostitution case. Puneeth Kerehalli is a Hindu activist from Karnataka. The post has a ‘B Tv News’ screenshot and a couple of photos related to an FIR. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim:‘B Tv News’ about Puneeth Kerehalli’s arrest along with C.R. Madhu and Rubel Mondal in a prostitution case.
Fact: The posted screenshot of ‘B Tv News’ is an edited one. The name and picture of Raffiqull Islam in the original ‘B Tv News’ photo has been replaced with Puneeth Kerehalli. The posted FIR copy is related to an incident in 2013, not any recent incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the posted screenshot of ‘B Tv News’ was run through Google Reverse Image Search, a similar photo can be found in the search results. However, it can be seen that the photo posted by ‘B Tv News’ does not have the picture of Puneeth Kerehalli. The name and picture of Raffiqull Islam in the original ‘B Tv News’ photo has been replaced with Puneeth Kerehalli.
According to news reports, three people (C.R. Madhu, Raffiqull Islam, and Rubel Mondal) accused of running a prostitution racket were arrested in Bengaluru last month. Some of those news reports can be read here, here, here, and here. There is no mention of Puneeth Kerehalli in that case.
In other photos in the post, it can be seen that the posted FIR copy is related to an incident in 2013, not any recent incident. So, it is not related to any recent prostitution cases. Puneeth Kerehalli posted them on Facebook saying terming them ‘fake’, and that the 2013 incident is a false case. Some of the recent posts made by Puneeth Kerehalli can be seen here, here, and here. The audio of an alleged phone conversation between Puneeth Kerehalli and Bharath Shetty is also going viral on social media which can be heard here.
To sum it up, an edited ‘B Tv News’ screenshot is shared as Puneeth Kerehalli arrested in a recent prostitution case.
